Ukrainian Dried Smoked Pears

Another recipe that really drew my interest in Olia Hercules' book, Summer Kitchens, was for pears that were dried and then smoked.  

ISBN 978-1-68188-570-4

The recipe is on page 62.  It is as simple as the title says, with the challenge, perhaps, to get them smoked.  

Dried Smoked Pears

 

4 1/2 pounds Bartlett pears, cut in half lengthwise, cores and stems removed

Lay the pears, cut side up, on baking sheets lined with baking parchment and put them in a very low oven - the warming oven of a Rayburn or Aga is ideal - until they are completely dried, about 3 days.  Check on them every so often, swapping the sheets around so the pears dry evenly. As they dry, the pears will shrivel and develop a caramelized chewiness - any juice that oozes onto the baking parchment will taste like pear caramel.

Transfer the dried pears to wire racks, placing them cut side up.  If you have a cold-smoker, you can then cold-smoke the pears for 18 hours.  Alternatively, you can hot-smoke the pears over oak or fruit wood chips on a barbecue for about an hour or so.

Store the pears in lidded jars at room temperature - they will last for many months.

My Notes

Most of my Bartlett pears were yellow.  Ripe, but not soft.  Just right, I hope.  I tasted a bit of one and it was very sweet.

It was easy to cut them in half and then to use the tip of a spoon to remove the cores and stems.

This is about half of the half pears.

The oven was preheated to "Warm", which is about 170 degrees F.  I noted the time when the trays went in so I could see about how long it would really take for them to dry.

They smelled so good!  They made my mouth water every time I walked by the kitchen.

After about 14 hours of drying, the pears looked like this:

The kitchen still smelled wonderful!

I didn't swap the sheets around because my oven runs a fan to circulate the air.

I took them out of the oven for a few hours while I used it for other purposes.  Then they went back in, no worse for wear.  All the drying halves were consolidated onto one tray.

After 24 hours

After 38 hours

After 48 hours, I turned them over to make sure the bottoms dried.

At 60 hours, I turned them back.  Here they are at 72 hours, when I considered them "done:"

I cut one open and tasted part of it.

The inside looked spongy.  It seemed dry all the way through.  While warm, the pears were very soft.  Once cooled, they were stiff.

I could taste a pear flavor, but it also tasted cooked, maybe even a little burnt.  Perhaps I over-dried them, or I had the temperature too hot.  Or maybe I got it just right!

The next step is to smoke them.  I want to hot-smoke them myself, using my propane grill.  

Hot Smoking

I removed one grate from the grill and put it on top of the others to provide a circulating zone around the pears.  Then I placed the pear halves on it, cut side up, and spaced so they did not touch each other.  I also made sure none of the pears were too close to the two fire areas.

One small piece of pear was withheld from the smoking so I could try a before-and-after taste comparison.

I used applewood chips that were soaked in water for 15 minutes, then drained.  I also had a premade cup with applewood chips in it, so I used that, too.  The fire under the chips was at full until the smoke started being produced enough to see, then I turned it down to low.  My reading said subtlety is best when smoking food.  

I used "that much" wood chips.

See the smoke?

The lid was closed.  The timer was set for 1 hour, and I waited.  I did check on them occasionally to make sure the smoke was still coming out, as I wasn't sure if I put in enough chips.  

I noticed that the temperature inside the grill's box was pretty hot, enough to cook the pears, at about 350 to 400 degrees F.  I hoped that wasn't a problem.

Also, the smoke smelled lovely!  Some of the scent was on my hands and it was a great perfume.

After the allotted time, I took the pear halves off the grates and brought them inside to cool.

The Verdict

No visible difference that I can tell.

Smell test:

I could smell the smoke on the still-warm smoked pear and that was different from the non-smoked piece I kept aside.

Taste test:

I ate a small piece of the smoked pear.  The smoke flavor was very subtle, but there.  There was no burnt flavor.  After I let the piece soften in my mouth for several minutes, I was able to chew it carefully.  The pear flavor was still there.  I liked it but would not consider this an eat-out-of-hand item.  I would like to try it in a recipe.

A small piece of the unsmoked pear still had the pear flavor.  It did have that "burnt" element to it, which I was not fond of.  It amazes me that smoking could take that away!  It definitely did not taste even the slightest bit smoky.  This tells me the smoking made a difference.

Ms. Hercules tells us:

These pears are usually added to borsch or uzvar.  They are very intensely flavored; just a half a pear is enough to impart a sweet smokiness to pork, duck, pheasant, or lamb stews.

Uzvar is a beverage and is consider classic Ukrainian.  It it typically dried fruit soaked or simmered in water (or birch water!).  It can be sweetened, often with sugar or honey, and sometimes spices are added.  The fruit is strained out and the flavored liquid is consumed.  Ms. Hercules offers a recipe in her book.

Fruit added to a meat stew is one of my favorites, and recipes are all over the internet for dried fruit with meat.  I will take Ms. Hercules' advice and make sure I use just one half of a pear to add that sweet, smoky flavor, unless the recipe calls for more.  I imagine it should be chopped into comfortably bite-sized pieces, possibly after it has cooked and before serving. 

I look forward to trying the smoked pears in a recipe.  Either one from this book or a stew of my own design.